I don’t know about you but it feels as though Christmas was months ago. We have only been back in the office two days and we are fully focused on the year ahead.

We welcome Robbie to the team who has joined our studio. He has hit the ground running and it seems as though he has worked here years, what can I say he really feels like part of the Creative Edge family. Look out for his bio on the About Us page later this week.

With appointments coming up with customers old and new along with leads coming in from our website daily we will be sure to update you with all our news as and when it happens.

In the meantime we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, here is to a successful and prosperous 2012.

The reason I ask this question is that we have two Christmas Cards on the wall already, sent with love we hope but possibly a bit early. Or is it a case of no one is sending cards to wish others well over the festive period? Admittedly the two Christmas Cards already received are identical and are from the same person but that aside it’s nice to be thought of!

To some, the festive period started ages ago, to others its still a few weeks away but where does this leave the traditional Christmas Card? As the years have passed we have noticed the requirement for Christmas Cards has lessened, do you still send them? We do although we don’t spend a fortune on them these days with a staff portrait and extravagant envelopes. We appreciate receiving them so we like to send them too.

So if you don’t send them is it because of budget or is it because they are now an old fashioned custom in a modern world?

Maybe reading this short post has encouraged you to consider Christmas Cards this year. We have already produced some for one of the country’s top Golf Clubs this month. They are selling theirs on so we have packaged them into packs of 10. Obviously you don’t have to do this, we can send them to you with your names printed inside so you can post or to take the hassle away completely send us your data and we will post them out too! There are so many options but you will be pleased to know that there is still time so give us a call for a Christmas Card themed chat!

If you are privileged enough to be on our list then you will be receiving a card before the festive break but if you would like to be added to our list then email us at hello@creativeedge.uk.com The more the merrier!

Maybe we have just been lucky, used the right supplier at the right time, until now that it is….

Today we are shocked to hear that who we thought was a reliable and honest supplier is in fact dishonest and scheming and is duping businesses and other printers out of hundreds and thousands of pounds.

As any creative agency would know, having reliable print sources is imperative when trying to succeed in this competitive business. I think we will all agree, choosing a printer isn’t just dependant on price, factors such as finished quality, customer service and the all important turn around time of a job are very important when choosing who to use.

Twitter, whether you love it or hate it is fantastic for marketing yourself for free over the internet. I was impressed when we were approached by a printing company ‘to give them a go’ on our next job. Their quote seemed reasonable so I threw caution to the wind and proceeded to use them for several jobs. Their quality was good, their turn around times were excellent and more to the point their prices were very reasonable. It seems I was wrong.

Their prices weren’t their prices, the quality wasn’t lovingly created by them and their great turn around times were not delivered by them either. We all come across brokers in the business world but never before have we come across one with these standards. It seems our jobs were being farmed out further, we were paying our bills but our supplier wasn’t paying his and unbeknown to us, jobs that had been produced by us were not being paid for at all. Goodness knows where our money was going. It seems that printers and couriers have all lost thousands and are now pursuing this case legally.

This activity only came to our attention yesterday when a customer called us to say they had been contacted by a printer (who we had never used) about a job we had produced for them. This printer it turns out actually produced the job and after learning that they had been conned were trying desperately to recoup some of their losses. I don’t blame them, we would do the same. Until this morning we were unaware of the devastation one man has left behind.

Luckily for one printer he won’t lose out this time. We pride ourselves on being honest and we treat suppliers how we would like to be treated. He will be paid for the job he produced for us, all be it unknowingly on our part. Our payment will be real and not a false promise. Sadly one individual didn’t keep to his promise and instead falsified his online banking to make it look like he had been paying his suppliers to be able to secure himself more business.

It is sad to know that we live in a world like this. With all the illegal activity going on around us that we read about online and in the papers I am amazed and maybe naive to understand how such activity has spread over into the printing world.

We will learn from this turn of events, we will have to become more vigilant and not as trusting on face value. Sad as it seems it is the only way we can progress in business and it is businesses like us, the honest and caring ones that suffer.

If you would like to know more and for names read http://www.printmonthly.co.uk/News.aspx?i=491

Thanks to a lovely follower on Twitter we were lavished with free samples at the beginning of this week. Admittedly they were to promote their business with the hope that we would be in contact to snap up their products with our customers’ logos on but to be honest we just haven’t had time! The six 80′s jumpies (remember the plastic things you turned inside out and waited until they popped into the air) have kept us all amused all week and there is still no sign of us getting bored of them.

The frisbee was pretty good to, an ingenious light weight design that popped out the bag it was sent in but throughout the office the jumpies were a clear winner.

To be honest we aren’t sure if we have any business to put their way but we won’t forget www.flingprom.com and their gifts for a while yet!

If you would like us to test your products then give us a shout, we won’t say no!